Watch out for the blue-green algae, it's toxic and dangerous!

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Watch the Trailer for Jake Torem's "Letting Go," a Film About Life, Death, and Dogs

When the filmmaker lost his beloved Rottweiler, he made a film to cope with his sadness.

One aspect of sharing our lives with dogs that is particularly painful is that their lives are so much shorter than ours. It is pretty much inevitable that we will outlive our pets; we experience all the pleasure of watching them grow and all the pain of letting them go. It teaches us about our own mortality -- and that life is short but sweet, and that we should savor every moment of our own lives and our lives with dogs.

For filmmaker Jake Torem, the loss of his beloved Rottweiler was a deeply emotional experience. To commemorate the life of his canine companion, the Los Angeles actor decided to produce a film about life, love, and loss. Called Letting Go, the independently made movie revolves around Joel Slater, whose life is in turmoil as it reaches a critical turning point. At the eye of the storm are his three dogs, who all happen to be large breeds.

The dogs vie for his attention along with his girlfriend, boss, and mother ... but the one thing Joel really needs to do is properly mourn the death of his father. Will he have to give up his dogs in order to do so? Or is there something else he's holding onto?

Have you ever had to choose between your dogs and something else? Then you might just identify with this charming comedy.

For more information, check out the Letting Go Facebook page.

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Great Dane Puppy Cam: Watch Future Service Dogs Grow Up

Explore.org and Dog Bless You provide a look into the lives of six puppies as they're trained.

Here at Dogster, we love big mutts and we cannot lie. While there's definitely a place in our hearts for petite breeds, big dogs like sweet giant George and record-breaking Zeus amaze us with their sheer size, engaging our imaginations and inviting us to hug them tightly.

We are no stranger to puppy cams -- in fact, we've got them all bookmarked in our browsers and we sneak a peek of adorableness whenever our boss isn't looking (well, all right, here at Dogster, our boss is usually looking at puppy cams with us and the squeals of glee echo throughout the office). But this particular cam of Great Dane puppies is especially awww-inspiring -- the six big pups are destined to become service dogs to disabled veterans, children, and people suffering from diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Friedrich's ataxia.

Thanks to the efforts of explore.org and Dog Bless You, we get a glimpse into the lives and training of these amazing service dogs with multiple cameras, which allow you to watch puppies Perry, Lola, Ebony, Mia, Willow, and Roxanne grow into healthy, noble dogs.

But that's not all! For every one thousand likes Dog Bless You's initiative, Dog Bless USA, receives on its Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest pages, the organization will donate one service dog to a disabled veteran. Since June, more than 150 dogs have began improving the lives of men and women who have fought to defend our country.

Are you ready for cuteness? You can watch the puppies sleep with the indoor cam and during the day you can watch them outside at the "puppy hill."

Photos via the Service Dog Project

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Watch me chow down on good raw meat!

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German Shepherd Stands Watch Over His Owner's Grave -- For Six Years

In Argentina, a dog named Capitan remains his human's best friend, eternally.

A German Shepherd from the Cordoba province of Argentina is setting a new bar for eternal loyalty -- he's kept vigil at his owner's grave every day, lying down in front of the tombstone at night. The dog, named Capitan, keeps a steady watch, never veering far from his duty as man's best friend. 

He's done it for six years.  

“During the day he sometimes has a walk around the cemetery, but always rushes back to the grave,” said Hector Baccega, the cemetery’s director, according to CBS Seattle. “And every day, at [6 p.m.] sharp, he lies down on top of the grave and stays there all night.”

But there's more to this story about a dog who doesn't understand the point, or the need, of saying goodbye. To be sure, Capitan displays an impressive ability by standing guard over his owner. But he displayed an otherworldly one in simply finding the grave in the first place, because nobody took him there. 

Reportedly, his owner, Miguel Guzmán, passed away in a hospital and was taken to a funeral home and then to the cemetery. None of the family members recalls the dog being present at any of those sad places. In fact, nobody even noticed that the dog had disappeared from the home after Guzmán's funeral. 

“The following Sunday we went to the cemetery,” said Guzman’s wife, Veronica, according to CBS Seattle. “Capitan came up to us, barking and wailing, as if he were crying.” 

“We had never taken him to the cemetery, so it is a mystery how he managed to find the place,” she said. 

The dog followed the family home that day but quickly returned to stand watch. Baccega, the cemetery’s director, said the dog had arrived alone one day and wandered around the grounds for a while before finding the grave by himself. 

And there he sat with his master. 

“I’ve tried to bring Capitan home several times, but he always comes straight back to the cemetery,” said Damian, Guzman’s 13-year-old son. “I think he’s going to be there until he dies, too. He’s looking after my dad.”

Via CBS Seattle

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Breed Surveys Tell Breeds What To Watch For

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals offers free Breed Club Health Surveys of many dog breeds so that breed associations and breeders can be better informed about health issues of their breeds. The surveys can be completed online (although you may need the assistance of your veterinarian for a question or two) in about 20 minutes. They’re pretty thorough, too. The results are confidential and are used to identify health issues of various breeds. They also tell you as a pet owner which genetic health screens your dog should have.

To take the survey, visit http://www.offa.org/surveys/index.html. You can even read the results of some of the surveys, which are fascinating.For example, did you know:

22% of Papillons have been diagnosed with dental disorders?1 in 10 Staffordshire Bull Terriers is used in obedience trials?The most common skin disorder in Parson Russell Terriers is seasonal allergies?

Some surveys may be closed, but check back every 6 months to see if your dog’s survey is open. If you have a purebred dog, even it you obtained him/her from a shelter, you should answer the survey to help breeders and breed clubs understand the health issues oftheir favorite dogs.

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Watch out for the blue-green algae, it's toxic and dangerous!

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Watch Dog: Great Quotes from Furry Philosophers

When your job is answering scores of questions every day via email, it doesn’t take long before you have actually written tens of thousands of emails. Conservative estimate: 50 e-mails per day for a total of 250 per week x 50 weeks (I'm allowed a two-week vacation!) x 8 years = 100,000 e-mails. Even allowing that a good number of the responses are template based, we’re still talking serious numbers. Is it any wonder I sometimes get a little, well, goofy?

A few days ago, a Dogster reader asked a pretty straightforward question and signed off as a “literate” pet. Now, this person was having some fun, writing to Customer Support as their “pet author” instead of a human. And don’t I do the same? My standard signature is “Watch Dog,” sometimes embellished with “your friendly neighborhood watch dog,” to go along with our original corporate mantra: “Where no one knows you’re human.”

Lab reading a book courtesy Shutterstock.com.

Anyway, the next thing you know, since I’m writing to a “literate” pet, I decide I should raise the bar a little, and I added the following “quote” to the e-mail:

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence canine obedience schools. -- George Bernard Paw

That was the proverbial push to take me down the silly road of furry philosophy. Here are the ones I’ve come up with so far, in no particular order or supposed hierarchy of relevance. They are what they are. I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them.

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent being a dog. -- Pawmas Alva Edison

Ask not what your dog can do for you, but what you can do for your dog. -- John F. Caninedy

Speak softly and throw a good stick. -- Teddy Arooosevelt

Never ask for whom the ball is thrown; it is thrown for thee. -- John Dognne

Serious dog courtesy Shutterstock.com.

Nearly all dogs can stand adversity, but if you want to test a dog's character, give him a bone. -- Abraham Löwchen (Lincoln)

The paw is mightier than the sword. -- Edward Bulldog-Lytton

To nap, or not to nap: that is the question. -- William Schnauzerspeare

Cats should be seen and not heard. -- W.C. Field Spaniel

Okay, those are my contributions of furry (or maybe it should be fuzzy) philosophy. Give me your best canine convictions, dog doctrines, and pooch philosophy. You know you can do it. Find a quote by someone famous, tweak it into a canine version of quote and author, and post it in the comments section. Have fun and make Sigmund Fido proud!

May the furrce be with you. -- Yowlda

Til next week, best woofs. 

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Watch Dog Book Review: “All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog”

Hey Dogsters! Today I’m delighted to bring you a book review by John D. Williams. John (aka Watch Dog) is the customer service representative for Dogster & Catster and an adjunct professor of communication at Tarrant County College. He lives in Arlington, Texas with his wife, Tricia, and 11-year–old daughter, Hannah, who is crazy about dogs.

If you like what you read here, tune in tomorrow: We’re going to give away five copies of the book!

All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog

Reviewed by John Williams

In the world of business, you often hear the expression, “It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” I’m happy to report that Martin P. Levin’s new book has gotten our canine friends out of the doghouse and into the boardroom with style. At a modest 128 pages, from title page to postscript, Levin’s charming monograph (as he calls it) has much to offer, and if you happen to be a passionate entrepreneur who loves dogs, so much the better.

The premise of the book comes from Levin’s attempts to cope with the loss of his wife Marcia after sixty-eight years of marriage. His counselor repeatedly advises him, “You’ll feel better if you get a dog.” Levin resisted. “I thought to myself disdainfully, I’ve had a dog; in fact I’ve had several dogs. But I’ve only had one wife, and I’m not convinced that a border collie is going to do the trick, even conceding the devoted loyalty of dogs and the fact they are man’s best friend.”

But when weeks of mourning and grief counseling turned into months, somewhat on impulse, the eighty-nine-year-old publishing lawyer decided to visit a local shelter. What he and his assistant found was Angel, “a mature female golden retriever/virgule chow mix.”

All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog follows Levin and Angel’s journey from insecure rescue dog and somewhat reluctant dog owner, to comfortable companions. “It soon became clear that my best resource for managing Angel would be, unexpectedly, the six decades of experience I had in a variety of management positions and the principles I had learned in the process.”

I confess the phrase “managing Angel” gave me caution, but Levin’s businesslike approach to pet ownership is obviously interlaced with devoted love for Angel. Any doubts I may have had dissolved quickly and, after all, it is a book about “management” styles.

Levin’s Angel-inspired tips, for running a business and being a happy dog owner, are beautiful in their simplicity:

1. Trust & Leadership
2. Communication
3. Problem Solving & Decision Making
4. Perseverance & Success

You’ll need to read the book for details, but in this reviewer’s opinion, you won’t be disappointed. Levin delivers the goods in fine style, sprinkled with good humor and wisdom garnered from six decades of management experience juxtaposed with his new life with Angel. Levin shares the ups and downs of learning to communicate with Angel; developing coping mechanisms for her fear of thunderstorms; and learning how to handle the challenges of traveling together.

Having managed a pizza shop and two university television stations, I found myself nodding in agreement with much of Levin’s management advice, especially his counsel to stick to basics and remain young at heart:

Staying young has long been the subject of philosophers and writers, from Aristotle to the present, and this is not an exaggeration. In the complex management environment, staying young is essential, and there are a number of issues involved in remaining so.

I am advised by Angel that… if I take regular naps and stay young at heart, she expects more from me – there is much more to come.

There is a wealth of wisdom in this little book for both entrepreneurs and dog lovers. Levin has a treasure trove of experience from which to mine his management advice, and a simply delightful story to share in Angel. And it isn’t all about Levin teaching Angel; much of the story is how Angel teaches him life lessons, which blends nicely with Levin’s belief that a good manager must also be a good listener and always interested in learning.

All I Know About Management I Learned From My Dog is not a large book, but neither is it short on substance. Definitely worth putting on your bucket list of books to read this summer. You won’t be disappointed.

(Image of office dogs Watson and Cressi from the Flickr photostream of emdot.)

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Need Inspiration to Learn Doggy CPR? Watch This Dramatic Video

Learning canine CPR isn't too hard and can make the difference between life and death

By now you may have seen this video of a dog who collapsed during a training class earlier this week and pretty much died right there, only to be resuscitated by the trainer, who didn’t really know CPR but tried his hand at it. The video has gone fairly viral. Here’s the raw footage. (The most dramatic parts, with the dog’s understandably hysterical owner, are early on. It’s astounding to watch the dog come to — scared and confused, but very much alive.)

I’m glad they got it on video (ostensibly for the veterinarian?). My inclination would have been to help the distraught owner or the trainer, rather than stand there and videotape it. But in the long run, the video has done a lot of good, because people are now looking into learning more about doggy CPR.

The trainer, Ron Pace, is really to be commended. Sugar would probably not be here now if not for him. And Pace’s actions have brought canine CPR into the headlines. So let’s all benefit from this: If you don’t already know doggy CPR, take some time to learn it. Enroll in a course through your local SPCA, pet store, or dog group. If such a class doesn’t exist near you, or if it’s too pricey, you can find good info on the internet. Here’s a video that’s helpful. There are many others out there, too.

You can also find some good resources at the bottom of a Dogster post I did last year about a Chihuahua whose life was saved by CPR.

(We send a thank-you to Dogster Diane Almy, for keeping us up to date on this story!)

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